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By David Morris

Weiner Neustadt, Austria: 31 July -- The Opening Ceremony for the 2016 European Slowpitch Super Cup in Austria was a great success, with teams, officials and local personalities coming together to celebrate the event in style.

Two teams from Great Britain – the London Chromies and H2O -- will compete throughout the coming week against 12 other teams.  The tournament – the largest ESF slowpitch competition ever held – will be played on two fields at the Diving Ducks Softball Club in the city of Wiener Neustadt, just outside Vienna.  

In addition to the two British teams, the other competitors will include Afterburners and Titans BSC from Belgium, Akademics Sofia from Bulgaria, DNAce and Sparks Mlade Buky from the Czech Republic, Linz and the Weiner Neustadt Chucks from Austria, Oddsox and TNT from Ireland, and three teams from Germany: Mannheim, Triple Play and UCE Travellers.

Opening Ceremony

As the start time for the Opening Ceremony drew near on Sunday evening, the tournament teams assembled in the beautiful town square of Weiner Neustadt.  Umpires, scorers, officials and tournament staff mingled with the teams in an atmosphere of good humour, even as the weather began to turn, and the crowd grew quickly in time for the opening fanfare.

Each team was introduced and led out into the central arena by Weiner Neustadt children bearing placards naming the teams’ home countries and local dance troupe Kulturreif performed between each segment of the ceremony.  Markus Dock-Schnedlitz, Councillor for Sports from Weiner Neustadt, spoke of sportsmanship and respect in the game of softball, Major Mag. Klaus Schneeberger celebrated community spirit in the wake of recent tragic events in Germany and France, and Britain’s Mike Jennings, Acting ESF Executive Commissioner, rounded things off to resounding applause.

After more entertainment from Ortner4Dance, the ceremony wrapped up with a great sense of anticipation and excitement for the week ahead.  Many players remained in the town square to socialise as the umpire and technical meetings went ahead in a local coffee bar.

The tournament

Play will begin at 8.30 am on Monday morning at the Diving Ducks Softball Club, when the London Chromies take on Mannheim from Germany and the UCE Travellers from Germany, the defending champions, play TNT from Ireland at the slightly later start time of 9.00 am.

H2O must wait until 12.30 pm for their first fixture against Akademics Sofia. 

Each of the GB teams will play two games per day for the first three days. 

The weather forecast is currently good for the week, and the British teams will look forward to reasonably familiar temperatures in the mid-to-high 20s.

Photos by David Morris

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